Fringe-ology (39 page)

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Authors: Steve Volk

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M. Mumford et al., “An Evaluation of Remote Viewing: Research and Applications,”
American Institutes for Research
, September 29, 1995.

Patrick Huyghe, “Closing the Dream Factory: Sony Proves That Psychic Powers Are Real,”
Fortean Times
, October 1998.

Chapter 3: OUT OF THEIR HEADS? OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!

Roger Penrose,
The Emperor's New Mind
, (1989, Oxford Univ. Press): 4 (initial quote), 75–84 (Turing machines, beginning of Gödel's theorem argument), 138–46 (full Godel's theorem argument), 516–17 (QM in the brain, photon experiment), 521 (need for a new physics to explain consciousness), 523–581 (the physics of the mind—a brilliant summation of his position).

Stuart Hameroff, Interview, March 12–14 2009.

Beyond Belief: Science, Reason, Religion & Survival, conference, November 5, 2006; Hameroff's presentation can be seen at http://thesciencenetwork.org/programs/beyond-belief-science-religion-reason-and-survival/session–4–1

Stuart H. Hameroff, “The Entwined Mysteries of Anesthesia and Consciousness: Is There a Common Underlying Mechanism?”
Anesthesiology
105 (2006): 400–412.

G. A. Mashour, “Integrating the Science of Consciousness and Anesthesia,”
Anesthesia and Analgesia
103 (2006): 975–82.

G. A. Mashour, “The Cognitive Binding Problem: From Kant to Quantum Neurodynamics,”
NeuroQuantology
1 (2004): 29–38.

Stuart Hameroff,
Ultimate Computing
(Elsevier Science, 1987) can be downloaded for free: http://www.quantumconsciousness.org/ultimatecomputing.html

Jordan Goodman and Vivien Walsh, The Story of Taxol: Nature and Politics in the pursuit of an anti-cancer drug, (2001): 90.

P. Drabik et Al., “Microtubule Stability Studied by Three-Dimensional Molecular Theory of Solvation,”
Biophysical Journal
92, 2 (2007): 394–403.

J. Fabera et al., “Information Processing in Brain Microtubules,”
BioSystems
83 (2006): 1–9.

Stuart Hameroff and Richard C. Watt, “Information Processing in Microtubules,”
Journal of Theoretical Biology
98 (1982): 549–61.
Author's note:
This is where references to
The Emperor's New Mind
are most prevalent—see earlier note for Penrose,
Emperor's
.

David H. Freedman, “Quantum Consciousness,”
Discover
(June 1994): 89–98.

Thanks to physicists Jack Tuszynski and Jim Trolinger for vetting my write-up of the (very) basics of quantum physics.

H. Schmidt et al., “Channeling Evidence for a PK Effect to Independent Observers,”
Journal of Parapsychology
50 (March 1986): 1–15.
Author's note:
Schmidt claims his tests suggest the role of a conscious observer—a human being—are necessary to collapse the quantum wave function.

A. Aspect, “Experiments on Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen-type Correlations with Pairs of Visible Photons,”
Quantum Concepts in Space and Time
(1986).

Vincent Jacques, E. Wu, Frdric Grosshans, Franois Treussart, Philippe Grangier, Alain Aspect, Jean-Franois Roch, “Experimental Realization of Wheeler's Delayed-Choice Experiment,”
Science
315 (2007): 5814.

“Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics,”
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
.
Author's note:
I found this relatively brief account particularly clear. It can be found at http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/qm-copenhagen/.

“Many-Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics,”
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/qm-manyworlds/#6.4.

Peter Byrne, “The Many Worlds of Hugh Everett,”
Scientific American
(December 2007), accessed October 26, 2010, http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=hugh-everett-biography

Max Tegmark, “The Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics, Many Worlds or Many Words,”
Fortschritte der Physik
46 (1998): 855–62.

Tim Radford, “David Deutsch's Multi-Verse Carries Us Beyond the Realms of Imagination,”
Guardian
, June 11, 2010.

R. Courtland, “Infinite Doppelgängers May Explain Quantum Probabilities,”
New Scientist,
August 26, 2010
.

Jim Elvidge,
The Universe—Solved!
(AT Press, 2008): 35–36.

Frank J. Tipler,
The Physics of Immortality
(Anchor Books, 1995): 170–71.

Author's note:
The references located immediately above contain further information on the Raub poll, but to ascertain the depth of Hawking's commitment to a many-worlds or multiverse theory (I write
a
because there are variations), one need look no further than his recent book,
The Grand Design
(Bantam, 2010).

Richard Feynman,
QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter
(Princeton Univ. Press, 1988): 5.

Einstein, in a letter to physicist Max Born, 1924, in F. Shapiro and J. Epstein,
Yale Book of Quotations
(Yale Univ. Press, 2006): 228.

Max Born and Albert Einstein,
The Born-Einstein Letters
1916–1955
(Macmillan, 2004): 80.

Victor Stenger, “Quantum Quackery,”
Skeptical Inquirer
21, no. 1 (January/February 1997), accessed October 30, 2010, http://www.csicop.org/si/show/quantum_quackery

Stuart Hameroff, “Naughty Quantum Robot,” http://www.quantumconsciousness.org/interviews/objectmonkey.html

Stuart Hameroff and Roger Penrose, “Orchestrated Reduction of Quantum Coherence in Brain Microtubules: A Model for Consciousness?”
Toward a Science of Consciousness—The First Tucson Discussions and Debates
(MIT Press, 1996): 507–40.

Max Tegmark, “Importance of Quantum Coherence in Brain Processes,”
Physical Review E
61 (2000): 4194–206.

S. Hagan et al., “Quantum Computation in Brain Microtubules: Decoherence and Biological Feasibility,”
Physical Review E
65 (2002): DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.65.061901.

Rick Grush and Patricia Churchland, “Gaps in Penrose's Toilings,”
Journal of Consciousness Studies
2, no. 1 (1995): 10–29.

Patricia Churchland, “Brainshy: Nonneural Theories of Conscious Experience,”
Toward a Science of Consciousness II: The Second Tucson Discussions and Debates
(MIT Press, 1998): 109–24.

Roger Penrose and Stuart Hameroff, “Gaps, What Gaps? Reply to Grush and Churchland,”
Journal of Consciousness Studies
2, no. 2 (1995): 99–112.

Stuart Hameroff, “More Neural Than Thou (A Reply to Patricia Churchland),”
Toward a Science of Consciousness II: The Second Tucson Discussions and Debates
(MIT Press, 1998): 197–213.

Author's note
: I am well aware that there are more papers than the ones mentioned that discuss the Penrose-Hameroff model for consciousness. But reading over the back-and-forth between Hameroff and his opponents, it seems the matter remains open. My own take is that when Penrose himself turns back to this theory and reviews all that has happened since he put it forward, some real action will commence.

Brian Greene,
Fabric of the Cosmos
(Vintage, 2004): 351.

Lisa Randall and Art Bell, Interview,
Coast to Coast
A.M.
,
February 25, 2006.

Mark Buchanan, “Do Birds See with Quantum Eyes?”
New Scientist
(May, 3, 2008), accessed October 30, 2010, http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19826544.000-do-birds-see-with-quantum-eyes.html

“Quantum Biology Has Come In from the Cold,” editorial,
New Scientist
(February 2010), accessed October 30, 2010, http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20527462.500-quantum-biology-has-come-in-from-the-cold.html

Gregory S. Engel et al., “Evidence for Wavelike Energy Transfer Through Quantum Coherence in Photosynthetic Systems,”
Nature
446 (April 2007): 782–86.

A. Zeilinger, “Quantum Interference Experiments with Large Molecules,”
American Journal of Physics
71, no. 4, (2003): 319–25.

M. Arndt et al., “Quantum Physics Meets Biology,”
HFSP Journal
, 3, no. 6 (December 2009): 386–400.

J. C. Brookes et al., “Could Humans Recognize Odor by Phonon Assisted Tunneling?”
Physical Review Letters
(2007): 98.

Geoff Brumfiel, “Scientists Supersize Quantum Mechanics: Largest Ever Object Put into Quantum State,”
Nature
(March 2010), accessed October 30, 2010, http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100317/full/news.2010.130.html

J. R. Minkel, “Is Sense of Smell Powered by Quantum Vibrations? Controversial theory Gets Green Light from Physicists,”
Scientific American
(December 15, 2006), accessed October 30, 2010, http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=is-sense-of-smell-powered

Elio Conte et al., “On the Existence of Quantum Wave Function and Quantum Interference Effects in Mental States: An Experimental Confirmation during Perception and Cognition in Humans,”
NeuroQuantology
7, no 2. (2009), accessed October 26, 2010, arxiv.org/pdf/0807.4547.

E. Conte, “Mental States Follow Quantum Mechanics During Perception and Cognition of Ambiguous Figures,”
Open Systems and Information Dynamics
16, no. 1 (2009): 85–100.

F. Beck, “Quantum Aspects of Brain Activity and the Role of Consciousness,”
Proceedings of the National Academy of Science
89 (1992):11357–361.

F. T. Arechhi, “Chaotic Neuron Dynamics, Synchronization, and Feature Binding: Quantum Aspects,”
Mind and Matter
1, no. 1 (2004): 15–43.

Mario Livio, “The Golden Ratio and Aesthetics,”
Plus
22 (November 2002), October 26, 2010. http://plus.maths.org/issue22/features/golden/

R. Coldea, “Quantum Criticality in an Ising Chain: Experimental Evidence for Emergent E8 Symmetry,”
Science
327, no. 5962 (January 8, 2010): 177–80.

“Golden Ratio Discovered in Quantum World: Hidden Symmetry Observed for the First Time in Solid State Matter,”
Science Daily
, January 7, 2010, accessed October 26, 2010, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100107143909.htm

D. A. Baylor, “Responses of Retinal Rods to Single Photons,”
Journal of Physiology
288, (1979): 613–34.

S. Hecht, “Energy, Quanta and Vision,”
Journal of General Physiology
25 (1942): 891–940.

J. Roebke, “The Reality Tests,”
Seed
(June 2008): 50–59.

“Spooky Action and Beyond,”
Sign and Sight
, February 16, 2006, accessed October 30, 2010, http://www.signandsight.com/features/614.html

“Talking Physics with the Dalai Lama,”
Physics World
, August 7, 1998, accessed October 30, 2010, http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/3186

A. Zajonc, ed.
The New Physics and Cosmology, Dialogues with the Dalai Lama
(Oxford Univ. Press, 2004): 11–30.

Thomas Campbell,
My Big Toe
(Lightning Strike Books, 2003).

B. Rosenblum and F. Kuttner,
Quantum Enigma
(Oxford Univ. Press, 2006): 6–7, 156–57, 183–208.

Hans Peter Dürr, “Matter Is Not Made Out of Matter,”
Endogenous Development and Biocultural Diversity
(Compas, 2007): 45–55.
Author's note
: The depth of disagreement among
physicists
—never mind mystics—is perhaps best realized by perusing this talk, given by German physicist Hans Peter Dürr, a student of Werner Heisenbrg, and former executive director at the prestigious Max Planck Institute. Dürr, like Zeilinger, believes quantum mechanics might ultimately force us to a completely new understanding of reality; to him, that answer lies beyond materialism.

Roger Penrose, Email, December 2009.

“Professor Sir Roger Penrose,” British Humanist Association, accessed October 26, 2010, http://www.humanism.org.uk/about/people/distinguished-supporters/roger-penrose-frs

David Chalmers, “Facing Up to the Problem of Consciousness,”
Toward a Science of Consciousness
(MIT Press, 1996): 5–28.

D. D. Hoffman, “Conscious Realism and the Mind-Body Problem,”
Mind & Matter
6, no. 1 (2008): 87–121.

David Chalmers, Interview, November 2009.

A. Marshall Stoneham, Email, March 2009.

Arnaud Delorme, Interview, March 2010.

Daniel Dennett,
Consciousness Explained
(Little Brown, 1991).

Susan Blackmore,
Conversations on Consciousness
(Oxford Univ. Press, 2005): 79–82, 116–17.

Nancy Woolf, Interview, February 2010.

Jack Tuszynski, Interview, February 2010.

CHAPTER 4: BLAZING SADDLES

Jewel, “Stephenville, TX,”
Goodbye Alice in Wonderland
, CD (Atlantic, 2009).

Lee Roy Gaitan, Interview, September 2009.

Tarleton State Univ., accessed October 27, 2010, http://www.tarleton.edu/about/Stephenville.html

Angelia Joiner, “Japan Interested in U.F.O. Sighting,”
Stephenville
Empire-Tribune
, January 25, 2008.
Author's note
: The
Empire-Tribune
's articles are available behind a pay wall at http://www.empiretribune.com/.

Following is a selection of videos that attest to the media attention Stephen-ville received, accessed October 27, 2010.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqdX-iwk5Mc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPBmeX6pBgI&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBhjmf2JSuA&feature=related

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